


i want answers

by AcrylicHarpy



Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Crying, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Hellbent, Reconciliation, for a ghost made of pure hate lewis sure is easy to calm down, hmm this is kinda self indulgent, i just like making arthur cry, like right after hellbent, still not sure how tags work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-22 20:50:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21082889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AcrylicHarpy/pseuds/AcrylicHarpy
Summary: Lewis and Arthur have a chat.





	i want answers

**Author's Note:**

> written in December of 2018, but now im sick of editing it, so enjoy

The scenery around him changed, from a ghastly purple cavern to the bed of an ordinary semi, and Arthur hit the floor a bit harder than he would've liked to admit. The impact knocked the air from his lungs, and he coughed wildly as the spectral figure bore down on him.

It had revealed a human form to him when it dangled him over that cliff. It had been a face so familiar it hurt. A face he had been without for so long that just seeing it made his breath catch in his throat. Strong jawline and broad nose and kind eyes; it had been the face of Lewis. But... Lewis never narrowed his eyes like that, never clenched his teeth and drew his lips back in anger like that, never looked at Arthur with pure hatred like that. It couldn't be Lewis. Lewis couldn't be dead. He couldn't be. Couldn't he?

But now it's human guise was gone, replaced with a stark white skull and purple flames in place of hair. It's eye sockets narrowed at him with—what, confusion? Disbelief? Betrayal? It was hard to tell. Any emotion other than anger was drowned out with the help of the natural expressionless nature of its skull. Its irises glowed malevolently and handfuls of fire burned in its clenched fists.

Then it spoke to him, in a rough voice that echoed over itself and resonated in his own skull.

**_"Arthur."_**

It growled the word, and Arthur had the feeling that if it had been wearing its human guise its lips would've been drawn back in a snarl. He shrunk back, trying to edge farther away from the ghost. His back hit the wall.

Arthur tried to say something, explain himself, apologize, scream, anything, but his voice died on his tongue, and he could only stare up in terror, slack-jawed and wide-eyed as the ghost hovered closer. The heat from its spectral fire became unpleasantly hot. It was hovering above him now, still glaring down with those piercing purple irises.

Panicked, he searched his surroundings for an escape, a distraction, a way to delay his fate, anything. But the back of the truck was empty, and the heavy door locked shut. Arthur clenched his eyes shut and winced, waiting for a fiery death. But instead of burning him to ashes, the ghost spoke again in a snarl.

**"Look at me."**

He didn't move for a moment. He didn't want to meet those eyes again.

**_"Look at me!"_** it shouted, making Arthur flinch. But he obeyed, cracking his eyes open to peer up at the figure.

When he looked at the ghost again, it resumed its human guise, and the seething gaze of Lewis glared down at him. Arthur's breath hitched in his throat. He wanted to scream, he wanted to yell. He didn't want to believe Lewis was dead. He couldn't be dead. He couldn't be. He wanted this spirit, this thing that masqueraded as his best friend, gone.

**"You look _confused_."** It's voice shook with anger. **"Did you _forget?_ Did I really mean so little to you that you could just _forget?_”**

Seeing the face of Lewis, so perfectly reconstructed, so... _furious_ at him, it made his throat hurt and his eyes sting with the threat of tears. A tiny sound croaked from his throat before he could register it. "No, I didn't—"

**_"No?"_** the ghost roared. It's hair burst into an inferno.

Arthur shrieked and tried to make a break for it, but the ghost lunged, grabbing his shirt with one hand and dragging him up off the ground. It shook him by the collar then slammed him against the wall. Arthur yelped in pain as the wind was knocked from his lungs yet again.

**"Look me in the eyes Arthur! Tell me why you did it!"**

The ghost was met with grief-stricken eyes. "What did I do?" his voice choked as he gasped for breath.

The ghost grasped at his collar with both hands. **_"You know what you did_,"** it roared.

Arthur’s feet tried to find purchase on the wall, his hands grasped at the ghost's arm. "Please—" he begged, "Lewis I don’t know what I did I—"

It slammed him against the wall again, then drew him closer to its face. To Lewis' face. Arthur shut his eyes tightly, trying to lean as far away as he could. **"_Why did you do it?_"** it bellowed. **"_Why did you kill me?_"**

Arthur’s eyes snapped open. His brows knit together and tipped upward in disbelief. The energy faded from his mechanical arm and it draped limply by his side. He stared into the ghosts eyes, trying to make sense of its words.

Then, after what felt like an eternity, Arthur shook his head again. “Wh—I didn’t kill anyone! Lewis—“

**"_Bullshit!_"** it roared, drowning out his excuses. **"You _murdered_ me! Tell me _why!_"**

Arthur found what little more voice he could and cried out, "I didn't kill you!"

The ghost drew back Lewis' lips and bared his teeth. But when it spoke again, it's voice wavered. **"Then why am I here now? Why am I _dead, Arthur?_"**

"I don't know!"

**"I'm _dead!_ I’m dead and it's your fault! _Murderer!_"**

"No! I didn’t! Please just let me—"

**"_Quit begging!_”** the ghost shouted in his face. **"The only reason you're not dead too is because I want to know _why! Why did you kill me?_"** The fiery aura around it pulsed with each word, licking at Arthur's skin.

In the corners of his eyes, tears began to sparkle in the firelight. He shook his head frantically. "I didn't," he choked. "I didn't kill—"

**"I know it was you Arthur! Tell me!"** It's voice faltered as it shook Arthur again. It's eyes, Lewis' eyes, looked desperate. **"Tell me why!"**

But Arthur continued to deny it, shaking his head and grasping at the ghost's arms with a fading strength. "No, no no no I _didn't_… I didn't!" The ghost shook him again and again, desperation growing more and more evident in its, in Lewis', face.

**"Please! Tell me why! _How could you kill me? I thought we were friends!_"**

Arthur couldn't do it anymore. He shut his eyes, flinching away at each word and burst of the flames. Tears dripped down his face and curled under his chin.

The ghost drew him closer still, until their faces were only mere inches apart. **"Arthur! You have to tell me!"** Most of the anger was gone from its voice, replaced with a hysterical desperation. Tears glinted in the corners of its, Lewis', eyes. **"I need to know Arthur.”** Its echoing voice fizzled into something that more resembled its living form. **"_Please, Arthur..._"**

Its eyes unfocused, and its grip on his collar fell slack. Arthur crumpled to the ground. He gasped and scrambled away, taking the brief chance given to him and making his way to the door as fast as his adrenaline-shot body could carry him. The ghost, seemingly frozen in its own thoughts, didn’t follow him.

He crashed into the back door and fell to his knees, clawing at it and trying to find something that would help him escape. There was only one latch, at the bottom of the door, that he feverishly grabbed onto.

Arthur looked over his shoulder. When he saw the ghost had turned in place and was once again staring down at him, he redoubled his efforts on the latch, tugging at it with all the strength his one arm could muster. It wouldn’t budge. He let go of the latch in favor of simply pounding on the metal. It was useless. He knew it wouldn’t accomplish anything. He knew the moment the ghost recovered its wits he’d be nothing more than a pile of cinders. He only hoped it would be a quick death.

Despite everything it had been through, despite harnessing a pure hatred for this man so strong it brought it back from the dead, the ghost couldn't bring itself to exact revenge. Something wasn’t right. Something wasn’t adding up. It knew Arthur. _He_ knew Arthur. Arthur didn't lie. Arthur _couldn't_ lie. There wasn't a single malicious bone in Arthur's body. Arthur wouldn't just... _murder_ him. Right? Yet it had been _him._ It was burned into Lewis’ memory, looking up at his best friend as he wore a cruel toothy grin and laughed a vicious laugh, just in time for the world to fall into an excruciating darkness.

Stiff and shaky, forehead touched to the metal door, collapsed in defeat, Arthur began to cry.

This wasn't his murderer. This wasn't the same person that threw him off that cliff, wearing that cruel toothy grin—but since when did Arthur have sharp teeth?—and laughing a vicious laugh—but since when did Arthur laugh like that?—and green clawed arm.

Arthur's mechanical arm twitched pathetically at his side.

Since when did Arthur have a metal arm?

The ghost edged backwards, eyes widening in disbelief. It's human form burned away like paper, and the flames around its head solidified back into hair. The pulsing anchor over its chest grew darker, and the cracks grew deeper. That thing that killed him that night, that wasn't Arthur. That hadn't been Arthur. Something had gone terribly, terribly wrong. The ghost grabbed at its skull, fingers shifting through its spectral hair. Was it all a _lie?_ Had it believed for so long that Arthur would just murder him like that? So easy? So effortlessly? After everything they had been through?

Yes. He couldn’t believe anything else. Arthur had a hand in it. The irony tasted metallic. It wanted to spit it out. Arthur was a key piece in this puzzle it’d been obsessed with for so long, but it still wasn’t complete. There were still pieces missing. What had Vivi said before they stepped into that cave? The ghost couldn’t remember. All they had found was a few skulls and keep out signs and then they split up and Lewis and Arthur went up the left path and then—

Arthur still shivered, curled into himself as if he wanted to disappear. The fingers on his prosthetic twitched again, trying to ball into a fist.

The more it thought, the more the ghost found itself wanting to comfort him. But it made no move forward. The bed of the truck was silent for a long, painful eternity. It gave the ghost more than enough time to contemplate things.

While Arthur sobbed, the ghost reached a conclusion. It didn’t want to exact revenge without knowing exactly how it happened. Every detail. The ghost wanted clarity. If it couldn’t recall all the pieces, then it would get the pieces from Arthur himself. It put on its human mask and floated to the ground, where it sat cross-legged. Arthur flinched at its warm presence.

"Tell me," Lewis said finally, in a voice nearly the same as it had been when he was alive. "Tell me what happened that night."

He didn't expect Arthur to respond so quickly, but he did after a moment, his voice quiet and weak. "_That night,_" he whispered.

“The cave. What happened?”

Arthur swallowed. “I don’t… I don’t know.”

He didn't _know?_ Lewis had to quell the rage that bubbled up inside of him. His hands balled into fists, but that was the extent of it. "What _do_ you know?" he said, keeping his tone level.

Arthur shifted slowly, lifting his head and turning to face the ghost. He moved carefully, as if any wrong move would send Lewis back over the edge. When Lewis didn't move, he drew his legs together and sat cross-legged as well, pressed as far against the wall, and as far away from Lewis, as he could get. He picked at the metal joints on his prosthetic hand. Lewis couldn’t help but notice it was similar to the way he would nervously pick at his nails when he had both hands.

"Back at... the cave," he started, voice low. He spoke haltingly, as though it caused him physical pain to recall the memories. "We came to a—a split path, we went up one side and... Vivi and Mystery took the other... And then—" His brow furrowed. "And then..."

Lewis leaned closer expectantly, watching him cease fiddling with his fingers. Arthur stared blankly down into his lap.

"I don't... remember."

Lewis remained still, dangerously still. "You don't remember..." he repeated.

Arthur’s fingers twitched. His eyes focused on the joints in his metallic hand. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but no sound came out.

No matter how hard he tried to remember, there was nothing. It wasn’t even as if he knew what had happened, but just couldn’t remember. No, this was as if there was nothing there to begin with. There was no dreamlike sense of _something happened, I don’t know what, but it happened._ There was a gap, a hole, somehow. _What had happened in that gap?_ A seed of doubt planted itself into Arthur’s mind.

“There’s just… There’s nothing.” Arthur frowned. “I didn’t… I couldn’t, I—” His voice cracked in a way that made Lewis’ anchor hurt. "No I _couldn’t have…_” He drew in a sharp breath, appalled by even the _possibility._ The sharp inhale spiralled into a sob, and Arthur doubled over, shuddering.

Lewis waited for it to pass. He looked down at the floor and waited until Arthur quieted again before speaking. "And afterwards?" he coaxed.

Arthur shut his eyes tightly, brow furrowed in pain. It was several minutes before he spoke again. Lewis sat and waited. He had more than enough time to kill.

"I woke up in the hospital," Arthur murmured. "My arm—You were gone... Vivi—she didn't remember you. The police," his breath hitched, "Didn't find a body." He took a moment to breathe before continuing. "I've been looking for you for so long... I—I kept believing. You weren't dead, you _couldn't_ be… I’ve missed you so much,” he cried.

Tears pricked at Lewis’ eyes; he was startled by the feeling. Arthur sat back up, and Lewis burned away his human guise so he wouldn't see his tears. Arthur’s eyes were wet and bloodshot and puffy with tears of their own; damp trails marked their way down his cheeks and disappeared under his chin, but a hopeful smile touched his features.

"But—you're _here,_" he said in a breathy, shaky voice. "You're _here_ now..." Arthur edged forward slightly, subtly, like a plant reaching for the sun. There was a pained longing in his smile, a yearning for the old times, back when it was just him, Vivi, and Lewis. Back when they were friends and not amputees and amnesiacs and ghosts living in the shells of their former lives.

Lewis reached out, slowly, aiming to press a hand to Arthur's shoulder. Reflexively, Arthur flinched away as if he’d been burned. Lewis yanked his hand back immediately. It only took a split second for Arthur to realize the gesture had no malicious intent behind it. Fresh tears sparkled in his eyes.

Lewis couldn't bear it any longer. He stood and hovered to Arthur, who shut his eyes as he approached. He leaned down and tugged Arthur onto his feet. Arthur let himself be tugged up, but his knees buckled under his weight. Lewis caught him, looping one arm under Arthur's and steadying him with the other.

Arthur was torn. He wanted to lean into the warmth of Lewis' presence, but he didn't feel himself worthy of any sympathy, especially not from a being that had tried to kill him not even thirty minutes ago. Lewis made the decision for him. Upon finding Arthur unsuitable to stand, he reached down and slid his other arm under his legs and picked him up off the ground, drawing him into his chest. Arthur didn't complain, his energy was spent from crying; his body went limp in Lewis' arms. Lewis leaned backwards in the air, as if reclining in an armchair, and hugged Arthur against his chest.

The steady thumping of Lewis' anchor made for a soothing metronome, and Arthur soaked in its rhythmic beat. The anchor lightened in color, from dark to light blue. Lewis felt a pain lifted from his shoulders.

Neither of them spoke. There was too much to think about. So they remained together in silence. Until there was a harsh banging against the door of the semi. Arthur startled out of his daze. A muffled feminine voice shouted from the other side.

"Open up you punkass fuck and give Arthur _back!_"

**Author's Note:**

> some joyless idiot: you should only use italics for ABSOLUTE emphasis, don't just go around using it willy-nilly  
me, slathering italics on everything: aha! fucka you
> 
> anyway thanks for reading!
> 
> Edit: yall holy SHIT please go check out this awesome fanart by BinhThuongHa on deviantart!!!  
https://www.deviantart.com/binhthuongha/art/Tell-me-WHY-817934039?ga_submit_new=10%3A1571942485


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